I originally thought that I would continue doing only weekday workouts like I have the past few weeks, but that didn’t end up happening for me. It might have been for the best since Thursday’s workout was the 2000-meter row and I wasn’t too sad to miss that. But I did still get in my 4 workouts this past week and it did give me more to think about with my workout schedule moving forward.
Monday’s workout was a strength-based day and it was all incline work for cardio. We did the cardio intervals on our own with a set distance to do each round. And each round we increased the incline/resistance level by 1 for the first half of the cardio section. The second half of the cardio section was half the distance each round and we continued to increase the incline/resistance level each round. But since it wasn’t as much distance, the higher levels weren’t quite as bad. And between each round, we only had 30 seconds to recover, so it didn’t feel like much recovery during the entire thing.
For the rower, we had one long rowing block that was broken up into 3 sections. In each section, we had a 250-meter, 200-meter, 150-meter, and 100-meter row. And between each row, we had an exercise. For the first time going through the rounds, we had high knees. The second time we had lunges. And for the third round, we had shuffles. I did the high knees and lunges, but when I was in the third round I just did rowing for distance because I knew I couldn’t do the shuffles.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had deadlifts, lunges, and chest flies. And the second block had sumo squats, single-leg deadlifts, and pullovers. I tried to use heavy weights for everything when I could. But for single-leg deadlifts, I have to hold on to the wall for support and I also have to use a lighter weight so I don’t fall over. But overall, I was happy with getting some heavier weights into my workouts.
Wednesday’s workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power. It was also a bit of a rough day for me because we had some rain in LA and that meant my hip was really bothering me. It wasn’t as bad as it’s been in the past with the rain, but it was still an annoyance.
For cardio, we had 3 blocks. The first and last blocks were both 2-minute distance challenges. The goal was to beat the distance in the last block. I set my resistance level to be between my base and push levels, which seems to work well for me for distance challenges. And the middle block was almost all base pace work but it alternated between flat road and inclines. We did increasing inclines for the first half of the block and decreasing inclines for the second half. And at the end of that block, we had our only all-out.
On the rower, we also had 2-minute distance challenges for the first and last blocks. And in the middle, we had rowing with lunges between each row. The rows were between 100-300 meters and the lunges were between 12-20 each time. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to do the lunges with my hip hurting so much, but I did them slowly and just didn’t go as far down to the ground as I normally do and I was able to do ok.
And on the floor, we also had 3 blocks. The first block was 2 minutes of burpees. I did these using the bench for my hands and going slowly. It was really tough to not take a ton of breaks, but I tried my best. The middle block had clean to press, hip hinge swings, push-ups, and low rows on the straps. And the last block had 2 minutes of doing static hollow holds and static crunch holds. It didn’t seem like it would be a hard core block, but it was a lot harder than it seemed. I had to stick with mainly doing a static crunch hold since the hollow hold hurt my hip, but I tried to do the hollow hold for very short intervals.
Friday was another strength day. I was still dealing with more hip pain than normal, but it was better than Wednesday.
For cardio, we had 3 blocks. Every block had a base pace at an incline, a 1-minute base pace at a flat road, and a 30-second all-out. The base pace at an incline was different for each block. The first block was 1-minute, the second block was 2-minutes, and the last block was 3-minutes. And the incline/resistance level went down each block too.
On the rower, we also had 3 blocks. Every block had 150-meter rows with a medicine ball exercise between each row. The first block had front presses, the second block had bicep curls, and the last block had power jacks. I did overhead presses instead of power jacks, but for the actual rowing, I felt like I did ok. They weren’t my fastest rows, but they weren’t that slow and I didn’t feel like my form was getting sloppy either.
And on the floor, we also had 3 blocks that had a lot of the same work in each block. Every block had tricep extensions, chest presses, and seated low rows. In the first block, we also had mini-band bear steps. We had the bear steps plus mini-band toe reaches in the second block. And in the last block we had the bear steps, toe reaches, and mini-band scissor crunches. And each block, if we finished all the exercises we were supposed to hold a plank. I only made it to a plank during one of the blocks.
Saturday’s workout was a power day, and I think it might have been the hardest day all week for me! I usually love power days because I love that everything seems to be quick and short, but this one really was tough on me. For each section of the room, we had 4 blocks.
For cardio, the first 3 blocks were the same. We had a 30-second push, 1-minute base, and 90-second distance challenge. The goal was to try to do more each time on the 90-second distance challenge. I wasn’t resetting the bike for each block so I don’t know if I did better each block, but I tried. And the last block was just the 90-second distance challenge.
On the rower, it was very similar to cardio. We had a 30-second push row, then for the 1-minute base we had either lateral hops or pulsing half-squats, and we finished with the 90-second distance challenge. And the last block was just the 90-second distance challenge. This time, I did reset the rower for each block and I was very happy to see that I got further in the row each block! I wasn’t expecting that with how down I’ve been about my rowing, but it was nice to see I was having some improvement in the workout.
And on the floor, for the first 3 blocks, we had 2 exercises that changed each block plus ground to press with weights. In the first block we had squats and bicep curls, in the second block we had skier swing and hip hinge low rows, and in the third block we had pop jacks and upright rows. With the ground to press we had each block, we started with 1 and increased the rep by 1 each time. And that number continued from block to block. So I got through 2 reps in the first block and then in the second block my first round had 3 reps. And the last block we were supposed to alternate between push-up holds and plank holds, but I stuck with a plank hold because the push-up hold was putting extra stress on my hips and it was starting to be a little painful.
I’ve got 2 more weeks of workouts this year, and I’m very happy with how I’ve been doing so far. I’m glad that most of my workouts this year were able to be in the studio because I know it’s much better for me to be there than to be working out at home. And I’ve been starting to think about what workout goals I might want to have next year. It’s tough to plan them out when I’m still not back to where I want to be, but I am excited to try to think of some new goals for me. And one of those goals might be about my workout schedule. For these last 2 weeks, one week will be all weekdays and one week will be with a Saturday. And I really want to see if changing things up would be good for me. Either way, I’m always striving for my 4 workouts each week and I don’t see that changing!
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